More Than Meets The Eye
by Lady Atarah
Summary: Sometimes, the road to the same goal can be smooth to one and uneven to the other. Ultimately, will that matter?
1. Shohoku

The sun shone brightly against the mild blue of the cloudless sky. The fresh summer wind beat against my skin as I squinted my eyes to look ahead that bright morning. Slinging my navy blue bag over my shoulder, I walked down the street from my house. Having moved here only a few days back, the warm Kanagawa prefecture was relatively new to me.

ZHOOSH! I swerved to the side of the pavement as a bicycle blurred past me. In no time, I reached my destination. Shohoku High. My new school.

A lot of students were already bustling about the campus, many of whom looked in my way and gave me strange looks, with me being the new girl and all...

"Hi! You must be the new student. I'm Ayako. Can I show you around?" A pretty girl with wavy brown hair extended her hand to me. She was flanked by a boy wearing spectacles who gave a pleasant smile as he waved. "I'm Kogure. Nice to meet you -..."

"Toru. Nice to meet you all."

I followed them through the school as they gave me a mini tour. Turns out that Ayako was a sophomore and Kogure was a senior. I was a freshman.

"What sports do you play Toru chan?" Kogure asked as we walk through the hallway towards my classroom.

"I play basketball sempai." The two of them looked at each other with a smile. Noticing my puzzled look, Ayako replied-

"Well, sempai here is the vice-captain of the basketball team and I am the manager. Why don't you come over to the gym after school?"

"Of course sempai. I would be honored." With that waved goodbye to them and entered the classroom. It was already full, except for two empty chairs near the only window in the large orange- walled room. I walked over to the first one and sat down. Soon after, a tall bored-looking boy with messy black hair trudged into the class and slumped down on the chair behind me. He already appeared to be asleep.

Classes that day went by in a blur and soon it was time for me to meet the basket ball team. I walked down the hallway towards the coutyard where the gym was situated. The sounds of rubber screeching and balls bouncing off the floor met me even before I stepped into the court.

"Toru!" I turned around to see Ayako jogging upto me with a whistle hanging around her neck.

"So glad you could make it. Come on in." She pushed open the large double door. The noise in the gym instantly died down and twenty or so pairs of eyes fell on me. Even the sleepy guy from class was there. What was his name aging? Ru- kha- waa? Yes. Rukawa Kaede. Even from my short time in this school, I could tell that this guy was the resident heart throb, what with all the guys literally drooling all over him.

"Okay everybody!" Ayako cleared her throat. "This is Toru and she will be practicing with us from today onwards." There was a lot of murmuring going around.

"Welcome to the basketball club. I am Takenori Akagi, the captain of the team." A tall, rough lookin boy looked down at me as he smiled kindly. "What position do you play Toru?" The whole gym was paying rapt attention to the exchange between the captain and me. Perhaps they were just curious, that's all.

"In my old school I played point guard and shooting guard." Once against the gym broke out in murmurs. I looked down at my feet, slight embarrassed by all the attention. Suddenly the noise in the gym died down and I looked up to see an old man with a short plummy figure walk upto me. _So this must be coach Anzai..._

"Ah Toru chan! Your coach has told me much about you. Hohohoh! A very talented player indeed!" Lookin at curious looks on the faces of the players, the chubby old coach elaborated. "My old friend Hasan from India had coached Toru for many years. She will be of great use to the team. Hohoho!"

Everybody seemed to be taking in the news and quietly appraising me.

"But coach Anzai, we don't have a girls' team. Where will she play?" A tall player with dark blue hair asked, seemingly out of genuine concern.

"According to what her coach has told me, she will be playing for a joint Kanagawa women's basketball club over the winter and will undergo traing here in school until then. Am I right Toru chan?"

"Yes coach. We will be meeting over the weekends to discuss strategies." I quickly glanced around at the gawking players. "Owing to the lack of close proximity of the players, coach, we won't be able to meet too often. We are training for the Nationals."

And yet agin a general murmur broke out. This time though, I seemed to have piqued their interest even more...

"Very well then. Let's begin practice." With that coach Anzai just walked over to the bench and sat down.

Ayako's shrill loud voice brought my attention back to the court. "Alright! Listen up team! We're going to have a match now. Captain, Ryota, Haruko, Sakuragi and Mitsui on team red. Rukawa, Kogure, Yasuda and Toru on team white.

"Hahahahaahha! The kitsune's team is going to lose with only four players!" A tall player with close-shaved red hair started bouncing on his spot in the court.

"Hn.."

"Teme kitsune

"Okay team." Kogure's voise snapped me back to my team. "I'll take on Akagi, Yasuda Sakuragi, Rukawa will take on Ryota and Mitsui and Toru chan will take on Haruko chan. Let's do team!" With that we all ran to the centre of the court where the other team was waiting for us.

So this is my first match in Shohoku. Time to officially start my training here.

 **Please read and review. All constructive criticism is well appreciated.**

 **Lady Atarah**


	2. A New Friend

...

"Rukawa block Mitsui!"

The game had just began and the ball was already in the other team's hands. Toru turned to the right to see a brown haired girl, a little shorter than me, flailing her arms near her sides. So this must be Haruko...

"Toru chan!" Kogure shouted. Looking ahead, Rukawa had got hold of the ball but was being blocked by both Mitsui and Sakuragi. With a quick boost of speed, I went past Haruko and ran to our side of the court just a little beyond the centre line. Waving my hands above her head, she signaled to Rukawa.

Turning completely towards me, he made a fade-away shot, or throw? The ball smoothly landed in my outstretched palms. Quickly turning around, I realised that I was just barely inside our court, almost on the centre line. In a quick flash to my left, Ryota was a few feet ahead of me, gradually inching towards me. The captain was already at the basket.

Looking around, I decided to take a risk. I began to take one step forward. As expected, Ryota Stretched out his arms to snatch the ball. Quickly, I took my step back and slowly let the ball slip from my fingers.

Time seemed to have stopped in the gym. No sounds, not even whispers could be heard. Everybody watched as the ball flew across half the court and gracefully went into the basket, without touching the rim. Then almost immediately, the gym errupted in absolute chaos.

"That was the most amazing shot I've ever seen!"

"No one, not even Mitsui can make such a shot."

"I don't think even Maki of Kainan Dai can make such a long range shot!'

"Toru chan." I turned around to see a smiling Kogure patting my shoulder.

"That was a very good shot."

"Thank you sempai." Toru gave a small bow.

"Okay team, let's get back to the game." Ayako yelled, bringing everybody's mind back to the game at hand.

The game went on smoothly for both teams from then, but was ultimately won by Kogure's team. Rukawa had scored 28 points and Toru had managed to score 27. As practice ended, Toru to the new shower room that had been built specially for the girls.

"You are a good player Toru chan. If you don't mind me asking, when did you move to Japan from India?" Haruko was wringing the water from her hair with a pink fluffy towel. Her blue eyes sparked with curiosity.

"I came to Tokyo a month back and moved into my home here in Kanagawa just last week."

"So...why did you come to Kanagawa?" She asked tentatively, as if afraid I would snap at her for asking too many questions. I gave her a bright smile and said, "my brother lives here, so I just moved into his house."

"Oh I see. Well, it's my birthday this Saturday and I'm having a party at my house, would you like to come?"

"Of course. I'd love to." She quickly scribbled down her address on a srap bit a paper and held it out to me. I took it from her and read it. It was so close to where I lived. Just three streets away.

"Okay then. I'll see you at practice tomorrow Toru chan!"

 **Sorry for the short chapter. The next one will definitely be longer.**

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